Personally, I’m not a big fan of the Florida Panthers, but I’ve got to give them their due. Three straight trips to the Stanley Cup Final and a shot at their second straight championship is pretty impressive. The Tampa Bay Lightning made three straight appearances in 2020, 2021 and 2022 and won the first two. Still, I wonder if history will look back at these teams some day as among the great champions in hockey?

Regardless of history, I’ll be cheering for the Edmonton Oilers. (Though I have my doubts about their chances. It’ll be odd if Toronto ends up giving Florida their biggest challenge!) It’s been rare in the Stanley Cup annals for the same two teams to meet for the Cup in two straight years as is about to happen.

So, will the champion Panthers make it two in a row?

Or will the “challenger” Oilers win this year?

Let’s see what history has to say…

The first rematch for the Stanley Cup actually occurred in the same calendar year … back in 1896 when the Cup really was a challenge trophy. This was just the fourth season in Stanley Cup history and the year it became a national passion in Canada.

On February 14, 1896 the Winnipeg Victorias faced the defending champion Montreal Victorias in a one-game challenge for the championship. After they scored a 2–0 victory and brought the trophy back with them to the capital of Manitoba, it was cause for a great celebration. Certainly much bigger than what had been seen in Montreal when teams from there won the trophy in 1893, 1894 and 1895.

After both teams retained the championships of their respective leagues, the Victorias of Montreal challenged their Winnipeg counterparts to a rematch on the eve of the next season. In the lead-up to the game, the pursuit of the the Stanley Cup made news all across the country. The Montreal Victorias scored a 6–5 victory on December 30, 1896 and would retain the Cup until 1899.

REMATCH SCORE: 1–0 for the challengers

The Winnipeg Victorias won the Stanley Cup again in a challenge victory over the Montreal Shamrocks in 1901. In January of 1902 they successfully defended the championship over the Toronto Wellingtons, but in March they were defeated by the Montreal Hockey Club (aka, the Montreal AAA or Amateur Athletic Association.) Again, both teams retained the championship of their respective leagues and Winnipeg challenged Montreal to a rematch. The series was played at the end of January and beginning of February in 1903 and Montreal won again to retain the Stanley Cup.

REMATCH SCORE: 1–1 challengers and champions

The Ottawa Silver Seven (officially the Ottawa Hockey Club) won the Stanley Cup at the end of the 1902–03 season and held it until being defeated by the Montreal Wanderers at the end of the 1905–06 season. Among their many successful title defenses, Ottawa had defeated the Rat Portage Thistles in 1903 and 1905. Under the town’s new name, the Kenora Thistles defeated the Wanderers in January of 1907 in a challenge carried over from the previous year. After both teams successfully defending their own league championships, the Thistles and Wanderers met again in March for the Stanley Cup and this time the Wanderers came out on top.

REMATCH SCORE: 2–1 for the challengers

There would be no more back-to-back Stanley Cup rematches until after the NHL came on the scene for the 1917–18 season and then became the only league to compete for the trophy starting in 1926–27. In the spring of 1932, Toronto won the Stanley Cup for the first time under the Maple Leafs name with a three-game sweep of the New York Rangers in the best-of-five series. A year later, the Rangers got revenge with a victory in four games.

REMATCH SCORE 3–1 for the “challengers”

The Maple Leafs would be involved in the next rematch too. After an upset over the Montreal Canadiens in a six-game series in 1947, Toronto defeated Detroit in a four-game Stanley Cup sweep in 1948. A year later, it was the Leafs and Red Wings again with Toronto scoring another sweep and becoming the first team in NHL history to win the Cup three years in a row.

REMATCH SCORE: 3–2 for the “challengers”

And speaking of threes, the only time in NHL history that the same teams have met in the Stanley Cup Final three years in a row occurred from 1954 through 1956. The Red Wings defeated the Canadiens in 1954 and 1955, winning in seven games each year. But in 1956, Montreal downed Detroit in five games to launch the greatest dynasty in NHL history with the first of five consecutive Stanley Cup championships. During that dynasty, the Canadiens defeated the Boston Bruins in both 1957 and 1958 and the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1959 and 1960.

REMATCH SCORE: 5–4 for the champions

After the Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup in 1951, they wouldn’t win again until 1962. Believe it or not, as we’re now at 58 years without a championship in Toronto, that 11-year drought was once the longest in Maple Leafs history! Toronto defeated the Chicago Black Hawks to win the Stanley Cup in 1962, and then beat the Detroit Red Wings two years in a row in 1963 and 1964. The Leafs would win again (defeating the Canadiens) in 1967 … but Toronto is still waiting for the next Stanley Cup victory.

REMATCH SCORE: 6–4 for the champions

After Montreal lost to Toronto in 1967, the NHL added six new expansion teams. The rules of the day established a playoff format that guaranteed a new team would reach the Stanley Cup Final for the next three seasons. In 1968, the Canadiens swept the St. Louis Blues and then did so again in 1969. (St. Louis was swept by the Boston Bruins in 1970, making them and the Toronto Maple Leafs of 1938-to-1940 the only NHL teams to lose the Stanley Cup Final in three straight seasons.)

REMATCH SCORE: 7–4 for the champions

The Montreal Canadiens of the late 1970s were arguably the most dominant team in NHL history. After ending the Philadelphia Flyers’ reign (of terror) as two-time champions by sweeping them 1976, the Canadiens swept the Boston Bruins in 1977 and beat them in six in 1978 en route to four straight Stanley Cup titles.

REMATCH SCORE: 8–4 for the champions

Hot on the heels of the Canadiens 1970s dynasty came the 1980s New York Islanders. Entering the NHL as the worst expansion team to that point in history in 1972–73, the Islanders quickly became a powerhouse but could never get it done in the playoffs. Until they did. The Islanders defeated the Philadelphia Flyers for the Stanley Cup in 1980, the Minnesota North Stars in 1981, the Vancouver Canucks in 1982 and then the Edmonton Oilers for four in a row in 1983. Wayne Gretzky and others would say losing to the Islanders showed them just how much dedication it would take to win the Stanley Cup. In 1984 the two teams were back in the Final, and after the Islanders had won a record 19 straight playoff series over five seasons the Oilers ended their reign and launched their own dynasty.

REMATCH SCORE: 8–5 for the champions

No two teams met again in a Stanley Cup rematch until the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins in 2008 and 2009. The Red Wings — who had gone from 1954 through 1996 without winning a championship — won their fourth title since 1997 when they downed a young Sidney Crosby and the Penguins in six games in 2008. Both teams were back a year later, and this time it was Pittsburgh who came out on top. The Penguins were 2–1 winners in Games Six and Seven, with goalie Marc-Andre Fleury making a diving stop off Nicklas Lidstrom with two seconds remaining to preserve the Stanley Cup victory.

REMATCH SCORE: 8–6 for the champions

So, it would seem the Panthers have the better odds of winning again than the Oilers do of winning this rematch. Although the 1984 Oilers did pull it off, and the “challengers” have won the last two times this has happened. But it’s hard to prove there’s any mathematical correlation, and even if there is there’s probably not enough evidence to reach any conclusions. So even though it gets harder and harder to stay inside and watch hockey when (if!) the weather finally heats up in June and you don’t really have a team in it, I guess we’ll just have to watch and see what happens.

The NHL season wraps up tonight, but we already know all the playoff pairings, including Toronto versus Ottawa. It’s the first Battle of Ontario since the two teams met four times in five years from 2000 to 2004. (It’s hard to believe it’s been 21 years since then!) The Maple Leafs have won the Atlantic Division, giving them their first division title in a full (non-Covid) season since 1999–2000. The Senators earned the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference and are back in the playoffs for the first time since the 2016–17 season. The Senators won all three games against the Maple Leafs during the regular season, but Toronto should be good enough to win this. Then again, there have been so many playoff disappointments in the Auston Matthews–Mitch Marner–William Nylander–John Tavares “Core-4” era that it’s impossible to be too confidence.

Still, as I often say, people shouldn’t come to me for advice or opinions on current hockey because I can always tell you more about who won the Stanley Cup (and how) 100 years ago than I can tell you who’s going to win it now. So, with that in mind, we’re going back to the early 1920s for the first Toronto–Ottawa NHL playoffs match-ups.

The Senators won their first Stanley Cup since the formation of the NHL at the end of the third season in 1920. Then, led by such stars as Frank Nighbor, Punch Broadbent and Cy Denneny at forward, Eddie Gerard and George Boucher on defence, and Clint Benedict in goal, Ottawa roared out to an 8–2–0 start to the 1920–21 season. That earned them first place in the first-half standings of the four-team NHL and clinched a spot in the postseason. The Toronto St. Patricks won the second half of the schedule with a record of 10–4–0 and faced the Senators in the playoffs for the NHL championship.

Toronto had come on strong in the second half of the season, boosted by the mid-season addition of former Ottawa star Sprague Cleghorn. Offensively, the team was led by Babe Dye who topped the NHL with 35 goals during the full 24-game schedule. Ottawa had fallen to a 6–8–0 record during the second half and Toronto fans were optimistic, but the Senators shutout the St. Pats 5–0 on home ice in the first game of their total-goal playoffs, and then won the second game 2–0 in Toronto to take the series 7–0. The Senators then defeated the Vancouver Millionaires of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association to win the Stanley Cup again.

The NHL abandoned the split schedule in 1921–22, deciding instead that the first- and second-place teams at the end of a full schedule would meet in the playoffs for the league championship. Ottawa was 14–4–2 through 20 games, but then lost four in a row to finish 14–8–2. Punch Broadbent led the NHL with 31 goals and 45 points on the season, but it was Clint Benedict and the Senators’ league-best team defense that had them on top. In Toronto, Babe Dye tied Broadbent with 31 goals and Harry Cameron led the league with 17 assists, but neither the team’s offense nor its defense was as good as Ottawa’s. The St. Patricks needed three wins in their last four games to finish 13–10–1 and stave off Montreal (12–11–1) for second place and get another chance at the Senators in the playoffs.

“Tomorrow night at the Arena the two best professional teams in eastern Canada will cross sticks, when the St. Patrick’s and Ottawa play the first game of the National Hockey League play-off series,” reported Toronto’s Globe newspaper on March 10, 1922. “The Senators have been the ‘top-dogs’ in the pro league for two years, and they are ambitious to make it three titles in a row, and so take their place in history with the famous Ottawa Silver Seven, which in other years won the Stanley Cup for the Capital.”

Both teams professed their confidence before the March 11 opener. Toronto hoped to build up a lead on home ice in the first game of the two-game, total-goals series. And with warm weather predicted in Ottawa for the second game two nights later, the Senators also hope to take a lead on the artificial ice in Toronto because it was thought the St. Pats would have an advantage on the soft, natural ice in the Canadian capital.

Toronto scored two quick goals for an early lead in Game 1, but Ottawa rebounded for a 3–2 lead at the end of one period. It was 4–3 Ottawa late in the second, but Toronto tied it when Babe Dye took a pass from Harry Cameron and scored just before the period ended. A disputed goal by Corb Denneny (brother of Ottawa’s Cy) late in the third period gave Toronto a 5–4 win and a one-goal lead in the series.

“The most prolific source of hockey conversation to-day,” reported The Toronto Daily Star on March 13, “is the disputed goal in Saturday night’s pro game between Ottawa and St. Patricks. ‘Jimmy’ Main, the well-known Toronto Canoe Club member, who parks himself right beside the goal umpire’s cage for every big game, says that the puck was six inches over the line. He says Goalkeeper Benedict stopped the original shot and then as he fell down the puck slid out about two feet. Corbett Denneny took a sweeping poke at it with his stick and reached it. The puck circled in over the line and was hooked out by Eddie Gerard. Main says that the reason Benedict got so sore was that he knew he had stopped the original shot and that he knew nothing about Denneny’s poke at the rebound. He saw the puck outside [the net] and figured it had always remained there.”

The second game of the series in Ottawa was played on soft, slushy ice as expected. The Senators had the best of the play, and outshot the St. Pats badly, but they couldn’t put one past Toronto goalie John Ross Roach. The St. Pats spent much of the game firing the puck out of their end and all the way down the ice, which was not punished with an own-zone face-off for icing in this era. The game ended in a scoreless tie, which gave Toronto the NHL championship by a total score of 5–4.

When the St. Pats got back to Toronto the day after the game (March 14), they were welcomed by supporters who met their train at Union Station. When they got to their dressing room at the Arena Gardens on Mutual Street, they found a wreath-strewn coffin said to contain the last remains of the Ottawa team. “Bottles … were used as candle-holders, while the Arena attendants played the Dead March in ‘Saul’,” reported The Globe of March 15. “Long green streamers were used to decorate the interior of the room, and all in all, a striking picture was presented… [T]here were other features which amazed the many visitors who flocked to the dressing room when they heard that the last rites were being performed at the expense of the Ottawa team.”

The NHL championship gave Toronto the right to face the PCHA champions from Vancouver for the Stanley Cup. The St. Patricks beat the Millionaires three game to two in the best-of-five series. But unlike 1922, it’ll take more than just a win and a tie to defeat the Senators this year, and then three more rounds — not five more games — to win the Stanley Cup. Still, Leafs fans are hopeful!

Whether he does it before the end of this season (which he could) or not until the start of next year, Alex Ovechkin will very soon pass Wayne Gretzky as the leading goal-scorer in NHL history. Like so many of the records Gretzky set, this one seemed like it would never be broken. We’ll try to avoid any politics here, so let’s not think about Gretzky being a friend of Donald Trump and Ovechkin of Vladimir Putin. We don’t get to pick our moments, and the breaking of the all-time NHL record for goals is too momentous for someone who calls himself a hockey historian to ignore. So please read on for an all-time account of the NHL’s all-time leading goal-scorers…

The first NHL games were played on December 19, 1917. The Montreal Wanderers hosted the Toronto Arenas and beat them 10–9. The Montreal Canadiens were in Ottawa and beat the Senators 7–4. The Canadiens game in Ottawa was scheduled to start at 8:30 that night but was delayed for about 15 minutes. The Wanderers and Arenas faced off in Montreal at 8:15, officially making it the NHL’s first game. Dave Ritchie of the Wanderers scored just one minute into the first period against Toronto, giving him the honor of scoring the first goal in NHL history. But Ritchie wouldn’t remain the career scoring leader for long.

Two players scored five goals apiece on the first night in NHL history: Harry Hyland of the Wanderers and Joe Malone of the Canadiens. Hyland quickly fell off Malone’s pace, but Cy Denneny of Ottawa, who scored three in a losing cause on opening night, kept up. In fact, by the fourth game for each player, played on December 29, 1917, Denneny moved atop the leader board with 12 goals to Malone’s 11. Denneny reached 13 through five games on January 2, 1918. Malone scored twice in his fifth game on January 5 to reach 13 as well, but Denneny scored twice that night in his sixth game to hit 15. Malone moved back on top on January 12 when he scored five again to reach 20 on the season in just his seventh game played.

Joe Malone ended the NHL’s first season of 1917–18 with a league-leading 44 goals in 20 games played which (of course!) gave him the all-time league lead at the time. Malone played just eight games in 1918–19 and scored seven goals. Cy Denneny, who was second in the NHL with 36 goals in the first season, equalled Malone as the all-time leader when both scored their 45th career goals on January 4, 1919 and Denneny surpassed Malone with three goals on January 9 to give him 48. Denneny finished the 1918–19 season as the NHL’s career leader with 54 goals to Malone’s 51

Joe Malone moved to the top of the leaderboard again during the 1919–20 season. Playing with the Quebec Bulldogs, Malone matched Denneny with 55 career goals on January 1, 1920 and moved ahead again when he scored four in his next game on January 7. Malone would lead the NHL that season with 39 goals, which gave him 90 in his career.

100 CAREER GOALS
Joe Malone, Hamilton Tigers. February 5, 1921 vs Clint Benedict, Ottawa Senators.
(Milestone goal was Malone’s second of two in a 7–3 loss.)

On the night Joe Malone scored his 100th goal, Newsy Lalonde of the Montreal Canadiens reached 99 for his NHL career. Lalonde scored two in his next game on February 9, 1921, to reach 101. Malone scored once that night, so they were tied as the NHL’s all-time leaders. On February 12, Malone re-took the lead 103–102. Then, on February 16, Malone scored three to reach 106 … but Lalonde scored five to reach 107. By February 19, they were tied again at 108. On February 23, 1921, Joe Malone scored four to reach 112. Lalonde scored only once that night and Joe Malone would remain the NHL scoring leader for the rest of his career.

Joe Malone’s final goal — his only goal of the 1922–23 season (he scored no goal in 10 games in 1923–24) — came on February 3, 1923, in the Montreal Canadiens’ 4–1 win over the Ottawa Senators. He finished his NHL career with 143 goals in 126 games. Cy Denneny of the Ottawa Senators moved ahead of Malone atop the NHL career list again just two weeks later, scoring his 144th on February 17, 1923, versus the Hamilton Tigers’ Jake Forbes.

After passing Newsy Lalonde to take back the NHL career lead in goals, Joe Malone remained the leader for just under two years / 724 days (February 23, 1921 – February 17, 1923) until Denneny passed him again as the overall leader.

200 CAREER GOALS
Cy Denneny, Ottawa Senators. March 4, 1925 vs Clint Benedict, Montreal Maroons.
(Milestone goal was Denneny’s only goal of the game in a 5–1 victory.)

Cy Denneny scored his 247th and final goal on December 4, 1928, as a member of the Boston Bruins against the New York Rangers’ John Ross Roach. In all, he scored 247 goals in 329 NHL games. Howie Morenz surpassed Denneny for the NHL career lead with his 248th goal on December 23, 1933, also against Roach, who was then with the Detroit Red Wings.

After Cy Denneny surpassed Joe Malone as the NHL’s leading goal scorer, he remained the NHL’s leader for 10+ years / 3,962 days (February 17, 1923 – December 23, 1933) until being surpassed by Howie Morenz.

Howie Morenz scored his 271st and final goal on January 24, 1937, versus the Chicago Black Hawks’ Mike Karakas. Morenz suffered a career-ending broken leg two games later on January 28, 1937 (he’d played 550 games) and would die of complications while still in hospital on March 8, 1937. By the time of his death, Morenz had already been surpassed as the NHL’s career goal-scoring leader by Nels Stewart of the New York Americans. Stewart scored his 272nd goal on February 16, 1937, against the Montreal Canadiens’ Wilf Cude.

After Morenz became the NHL’s leading goal scorer, he remained the NHL leader for three+ years / 1,151 days (December 23, 1933 – February 16, 1937) until being passed by Nels Stewart.

300 CAREER GOALS
Nels Stewart, New York Americans. March 6, 1938 vs Dave Kerr, New York Rangers.
(Milestone goal was Stewart’s only goal of the game in a 3–1 victory.)

Nels Stewart scored his 324th and final goal with the New York Americans on March 16, 1940, versus the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Turk Broda. He ended his NHL career with 650 games played. Maurice Richard of the Montreal Canadiens surpassed Stewart with his 325th goal on November 8, 1952, versus the Chicago Black Hawks’ Al Rollins. Richard had scored his first career goal, in his second NHL game, exactly 10 years earlier. That goal had come unassisted against Steve Buzinski of the New York Rangers at 9:11 of the second period in a 10–4 Montreal victory.

After Nels Stewart became the NHL’s leading goal scorer, he remained the NHL leader for 15+ years / 5,744 days (February 16, 1937 – November 8, 1952) until his mark was beaten by Maurice Richard.

400 CAREER GOALS
Maurice Richard, Montreal Canadiens. December 18, 1954 vs Al Rollins, Chicago Black Hawks.
(Milestone goal was Richard’s only goal of the game in a 4–2 victory.)

500 CAREER GOALS
Maurice Richard, Montreal Canadiens. October 19, 1957 vs Glenn Hall, Chicago Black Hawks.
(Milestone goal was Richard’s only goal of the game in a 3–1 victory.)

Maurice Richard scored his 544th and final goal on March 20, 1960, also against Al Rollins, who was then with the New York Rangers. He played 978 games in his career. Gordie Howe of the Detroit Red Wings moved past Richard with his 545th goal on November 10, 1963, versus the Montreal Canadiens’ Charlie Hodge.

After Maurice Richard became the NHL’s leading goal scorer, he remained the NHL leader for 11 years / 4,019 days (November 8, 1952 – November 10, 1963) until he was passed by Gordie Howe.

600 CAREER GOALS
Gordie Howe, Detroit Red Wings. November 27, 1965 vs Gump Worsley, Montreal Canadiens.
(Milestone goal was Howe’s only of the game in a 3–2 loss.)

700 CAREER GOALS
Gordie Howe, Detroit Red Wings. December 4, 1968 vs Les Binkley, Pittsburgh Penguins.
(Milestone goal was Howe’s only goal of the game in a 7–2 victory.)

Gordie Howe retired from the NHL after his 25th season in 1970–71 with 786 goals. At the time, Bobby Hull was a distant second on the career list with 554. Howe would return to action in the World Hockey Association in 1973–74. In his six seasons in the WHA, Howe had 174 goals and 334 assists for 508 points in 419 regular-season games. He returned to the NHL in 1979–80 at the age of 51, playing a full 80-game schedule with the Hartford Whalers.

800 CAREER GOALS
Gordie Howe, Hartford Whalers. February 29, 1980 vs Mike Luit, St. Louis Blues.
(Milestone goal was Howe’s only goal of the game in a 3–0 victory.)

In his final NHL season in 1979–80, Gordie Howe had 15 goals and 26 assists to bump his career goals total to 801. Howe scored his 801st and final goal in his last regular-season game (1,767 games) on April 6, 1980, against the Detroit Red Wings’ Rogie Vachon. He would remain the all-time leader until Wayne Gretzky scored his 802nd goal on March 23, 1994, for the Los Angeles Kings versus the Vancouver Canucks’ Kirk McLean. The Kings lost 6–3.

After Gordie Howe became the NHL’s leading goal scorer, he remained the NHL leader for 30+ years / 11,091 days (November 10, 1963 – March 23, 1994) until his mark was surpassed by Wayne Gretzky.

Wayne Gretzky scored his 894th and final goal on March 29, 1999, against the New York Islanders’ Wade Flaherty. He played 1,487 games in his career. As of this post on April 2, 2025, Gretzky still holds the record with Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals closing in. Ovechkin has 891 goals in 1,484 career games with eight games to go in 2024–25. If he hadn’t missed 16 games earlier this season with a fracture fibula, Ovechkin might already have caught Gretzky. His final game of the regular season comes against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins on April 17.

Since Wayne Gretzky became the NHL’s leading goal scorer, he has remained the NHL leader for 31 years / 11,333 days (March 23, 1994 – April 2, 2025).

Well, you couldn’t have asked for a much better Final from the 4 Nations Face-Off last week. Especially from a Canadian perspective! Fast, and aggressive, but without any goon stuff. And the best player in the world scored the winning goal. But now, we’ll return to 1949 when things didn’t end up quite so well for Canada. Last week’s post ended with Canada’s 47–0 win over Denmark at the 1949 World Championship, and today, we continue with the rest of that tournament and the conclusion of the Sudbury Wolves/Canadian team’s three-plus month tour of Europe…

A day after that February 12 win over Denmark, Canada beat Austria 7–0 to win Group A and advance to the six-team Medal Round. (The Austrians would beat Denmark 25–1 on February 14 and also advanced). The USA (3–0–0) and Switerzland (2–1–0) advanced from four-team Group B, while the host Swedes (2–0–0) and Czechoslovakia (1–1–0) moved on from the three teams in Group C. But while Canada had outscored its opponents 54–0 in two games and the Americans won their three games by a combined 36–6, most experts still favoured the U.S. to win the tournament. Writing in the Owen Sound Sun Times on February 15, 1949, sports editor Bill Dane cautioned that the experts “possibly … are overlooking the best bet of all, Czechoslovakia,” though he undoubtedly wasn’t alone in touting the 1947 World Champions who had given the RCAF Flyers a run for their money at the 1948 Winter Olympics.

Canada faced Czechoslovakia to open the medal round on February 15 … and the game would prove typical of Canadian contests in Europe for years to come. Though the team had been told the CAHA rule book would be used at the World Championship, they had also been cautioned about the referees and told to be careful. But the Czech game got out of hand.

After a scoreless first period, a Canadian player was penalized for apparently trying to start a fight. The Czechs scored on the power-play. Ray Bauer tied the game for Canada midway through the second, but then two quick penalties were called. The first was to Johnny Kovich, who was accused to trying to kick a Czech player. Shortly thereafter, Tom Russell was sent to the box. With a two-man advantage, Augustin Bubnick scored by batting in the puck with his stick held over his head. When Joe Tergesen complained to the referee, he was issued a 10-minute penalty “for bad sportsmanship.” (According to Canadian Press reports, Vladimir Zabrodsky, who set up the goal, admitted after the period that he considered the goal invalid. Still, the IIHF denied Canada’s protest after the game.)

Canada was again a man short when the third period began, but after killing the penalty, Jim Russell tied the game 2–2. Midway through the period, Vladimir Zabrodsky set up Stanislav Konopasek and the Czechs were up 3–2. Fists flared towards the end of the game, and when Tom Russell dropped his stick to face two Czech players, he was not just sent to the penalty box but told to leave the stadium. The game ended 3–2. Afterward, the IIHF ruled Russell would be able to keep playing, but warned that any player involved in “further instances of fisticuffs or similar offences” would be banned from the tournament.

An angry Max Silverman considered withdrawing his team, but said authorities back in Canada advised him to carry on. Home in Canada after the tour, Silverman further explained that he had pulled is goalie with a minute to go to try and get the tying goal, “But I had no sooner got him to the bench and the bell rang. Bunny Ahearne of the British Ice Hockey Federation [a future enemy of Canadian hockey in Europe] told me the refs have just gypped you out of 50 seconds. I protested, but it went for nothing.”

The next day, Canada faced Sweden … and there was a riot before the game even started.

Initial reports claimed Swedish fans were trying to block the Canadian players from entering the stadium — Swedish press reports had billed the Canadians as “dangerous men” — but later stories said it was merely the pushing and shoving of an estimated crowd of 25,000 fans hoping to get in. There were reports of 14 injuries, although none were serious. Even so, mounted police had to force a passage through the crowd to allow ambulances to get through. A police escort led the Canadian team bus to the stadium, and a chain of 12 officers protected the players on their way from the dressing room to the ice.

Once the game began, there was a parade of Canadian player to the penalty box. Some reports said there were seven Canadian penalties in the game to just one for the Swedes, but Max Silverman said it was 14 to one. Even so, Canada led 2–1 midway through the third period … until the Swedes tied the game with two Canadians in the penalty box. The final score would remain 2–2.

Silverman believed a Swedish fan had held the stick of defenseman Joe Tergesen on the tying goal. “It’s hard enough to play the teams without playing the spectators too,” he said. There would be no protest this time, but he had other criticisms to offer. “They try to apply Canadian rules,” he said, “but evidently [the IIHF] are still confused. Consequently, our men have no idea what they are allowed to do and why they are sent to the penalty box.” Rudolg Eklow, a Swedish IIHF member, responded, “We in Europe are trying to make hockey a little more human. [Humane, perhaps?] We do not like the North American tendency to brutalize the game.”

Next up for Canada on February 17 were the Americans, who had suffered a surprising 5–4 loss to Switzerland in their first game of the medal round. A Canadian win would keep their championship hopes alive while virtually eliminating the USA. Stockholm police delayed the start of the game by 45 minutes and used the time to clear away crowds outside the stadium. The 7,900 who got in saw Canada score a convincing 7–2 victory by blowing open a tight 3–2 game with four goals in the third period.

An 8–2 win for Canada over Austria followed. The U.S. bounced back for a 6–3 win over Sweden, a 2–0 win over the Czechs, and a 9–1 win over Austria, but it wasn’t enough for them. Canada’s 1–1 tie with Switzerland to end the tournament meant nothing for them either, as the Czechs had already claimed the World Championship with their 3–0 win over Sweden earlier that same day. Czechoslovakia finished the medal round with a record of 4–1–0. Canada was 2–1–2 and the Americans were 3–2–0. The Canadians got second place because of a +10 goal differential (20 goals for to 10 against) in the medal round. (The 47–0 and 7–0 wins in the preliminary round didn’t count.) The Americans were only +7 (23–16) and finished third.

Not surprisingly, hockey fans back home weren’t thrilled with Canada’s second-place finish. Nor were they pleased with the reports of the European reaction to their style of play. But over there in Europe, the Wolves/Canada still had two months of tour to go.

At 6am on the morning after the World Championship ended, the team headed for Czechoslovakia. There, they played eight games in nine days in front of 125,000 fans and went 5–2–1. Dinty Moore was pleasantly surprised with his view behind the Iron Curtain.

“The players were treated better than at Stockholm … where they were put up in third-rate hotels. We had a plane put out our disposal with a crew of three Czechs who had flown with the RAF during the war and spoke English. They took us wherever we wanted to got and we stayed at the best hotels. The food was excellent and plentiful. The crowds were eminently fair.”

The hockey tour continued until early April before the team finally returned to Canada, at Montreal, aboard the Canadian Pacific Liner Empress of France, on April 20. Safely on home soil, Max Silverman unloaded. “It was terrible,” he said. “They accused us of everything under the sun. They said we were too rough on their boys. That was pure nonsense. We took over a lot of fellows who could do everything but play a rugged game.”

Silverman was convinced that if Canada sent teams to Europe in the future, they should send over a whole team in tact. And top teams too. “The countries we played thought they were meeting the tops in Canada. I said nuts to that; we have 200 or 300 hockey teams back home that could show this crowd something.”

All in all, it seems the Sudbury Wolves/Canadian hockey team played 62 games in their approximately 100 days abroad. They posted a record of 29–19–14, but it had been gruelling. Herb Kewley was among a group of five players who arrived in Toronto by train on April 21, 1949. “That tour was a killer,” he said. “We played far too many games. Val Zabrodsky, Czech star center was the best man we played against. They’re all god skaters, but … they can’t stand being bumped.”

Said Ray Bauer: “We travelled too far and played too many games in too short a period. One day we had breakfast in Sweden, lunch in Denmark and supper in Czechoslovakia, and after supper we had to fly another 400 miles to the scene of the game which started at 10:10 pm…. Sometimes we’d play twice in 20 hours. Seldom were we away from the ice for more than 36 hours.”

Back home in Waterloo a few days later, Bauer said he thought the criticism the team had received in Canada was “unjust and unwarranted,” adding: “If think Canadians would have praised us instead of insulting us if they knew the heavy schedule of games we had to play and the conditions under which we played them.” But all in all, “it was a trip that I thoroughly enjoyed and I’m extremely grateful to the CAHA for making it possible.”

Haven’t posted anything since before Christmas. I don’t usually like to let so much time go by, but I’ve been pretty busy with other things. I hadn’t really been enamoured with the thought of it before it started (though I was pretty sure I’d watch!), but once the 4 Nations Face-Off actually faced-off, I figured I’d find some sort of historic angle to this prefab — though pretty fabulous — tournament. There’s no real connection between that and this story, but here we go…

If it’s remember for anything today, the 1949 Ice Hockey World Championship is remembered for the fact that Canada beat Denmark 47–0 in what will likely always be the highest scoring game at this level of international hockey. Yet Canada didn’t win that year. Canadian teams had finished second before — to the United States at the 1933 World Championship and to a Great Britain team loaded with expat Canadians at the 1936 Winter Olympics — but the 1949 tournament marked the first time Canada finished second to a true European team as Czechoslovakia came out on top.

Canada hadn’t sent a team to first post-War World Championship in 1947 because of a growing rift between the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). We might not have sent a team to the 1948 Winter Olympics if it hadn’t been for the hastily assembled RCAF Flyers. Once again, the CAHA seemed less than committed to sending a team to the 1949 World Championship, but did vote in favour of doing so on Saturday, April 24, 1948, at their annual meeting in Toronto. The team would tour Europe from December 30, 1948, until early April of 1949 and represent Canada at the World Championship in Stockholm, Sweden, in February.

Max Silverman had long been involved in the management of hockey teams in Sudbury, Ontario, and was currently the president of the Northern Ontario Hockey Association. He and Frank “Dinty” Moore of Port Colborne, a past president of the OHA (and a member of the 1936 Canadian Olympic hockey team), were tasked with selecting Canada’s team this time. The CAHA made the job more difficult with an announcement on May 10, 1948, after stories that Max Silverman had approached the 1948 Memorial Cup champion Port Arthur Bruins, when president Al Pickard announced it would not be feasible to send a complete team because of the interruption to league schedules. In June, former NHL player (and future childhood coach of Bobby Orr) Bucko McDonald offered up the Sundridge Beavers, who had won the OHA Intermediate B championship, but in July, Silverman ruled out the possibility of taking one team in tact … possibly because of the earlier CAHA ruling.

Silverman spent much of the summer of 1948 trying to assemble a team. Near the end of October, he announced the squad would come together in Sudbury at the end of November to begin training. But in early December, he was still putting the finishing touches on his roster. Britt Jessup of the North Bay Daily Nugget, who had written back in July about the problems Silverman would face, reminded his reader of them in his Sport Static column on December 2:

“If the truth be known, Max Silverman is not having any picnic gathering players for his tour-Europe hockey team. The inducement to go on this hockey junket — $25 a week and all expenses paid — is not exactly alluring. Free-spending hockey players would go through that 25 fish in a couple of days. As for the education which travel provides, many pucksters saw enough of Europe for a while during the years 1939–1945. Married players simply can’t pick up and leave their families to go on this European jaunt. On return, they’d likely find their wives had gone on a little jaunt themselves … to Reno.”

Silverman, wrote Jessup, was spending a lot of his personal time and money trying to find players and was becoming “a bit cheesed” with the lack of co-operation he was getting from the CAHA. That’s why (even though it really wasn’t) he decided to call his team the Sudbury Wolves. “Hell,” said Silverman (Jessup quoted him as saying H––l), “I’m doing most of the work and Sudbury men are proving most of the sponsorship! We may as well get some publicity out of it.”

Jessup wondered if it might not have been a good idea to take Bucko McDonald’s Sundridge team to Europe after all. “They [the CAHA] wouldn’t let me sign players to contracts [in] September,” Silverman complained. “Now I’m faced with the job of doing around trying to get players, when most of them have already signed with teams for the 1948–49 season. I don’t like breaking up other teams to get players for my team, but what can I do? We can’t go over there with a team not fit to represent Canada, the home of hockey.”

The players Silverman had gathered met in Sudbury for a week of practice starting about December 5. Those paying attention weren’t very impressed, as this assessment in The Sault Star of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, from December 4 will attest: “I fail to see where the club will be much stronger than an average intermediate team at the most. Not a single, solitary big name either from Northern or Southern Ontario senior ranks is included. In fact, a number of boys trying out for the squad are just junior B calibre, if that.”

The team was certainly young, with most under 21 and some still teenagers. Among the few veterans was Ray Bauer of Waterloo, Ontario, who was no superstar but at least had a family pedigree in being the brother of NHL star Bobby Bauer and future Canadian National Team leader Father David Bauer.

These new Sudbury Wolves played their first game on December 12 against the Sudbury Miners of the Nickel Belt Hockey League and held them to a 2–2 tie. “Sporting a few weak links, but sound basically,” read a Canadian Press report, “the Wolves can expect to show improvement after two or three more games.” Four nights later, the Wolves pulled their goalie to earn a late goal and another 2–2 tie against the North Bay Black Hawks.

Next, the players made quick trips home to say goodbye to their families. Then the team travelled to Boston, where they were beaten handily on December 20 in a 6–3 loss to the American team they would face at the World Championship. Three days later, they sailed for Southampton from New York aboard the Queen Elizabeth (named for the wife of King George VI). Keeping themselves in shape in the ship’s gymnasium and swimming pool, the team arrived in England on December 29 only to have customs officials seize much of their equipment, including 500 hockey sticks.

The Brits were worried that sports equipment brought over by teams in previous years had been sold before the teams left England, thus evading imports duties. “We have allowed too much rope in the past,” said one customs official. “Now we are going to clamp down.” The team was forced to spend most of the day in Southampton and a deposit had to be paid on their gear before they were allowed to leave for London late that night. “We were very annoyed,” Max Silverman said, “especially as we have brought with us a lot of sweets and foodstuffs for the British public.”

The Sudbury Wolves/Canada played the first game of their tour the following night and lost 7–3 to England. (I assume that’s the English national team, though they wouldn’t be at the 1949 World Championship.) By January 28, 1949, they had played 14 games in England, Scotland and France and were just 3–6–5. Before the end of the month, they put up two lopsided wins (12–0 and 14–3) against teams in the Netherlands, but as early as January 17, the CAHA had voted to send reinforcements. On February 1, Don Stanley of Edmonton (son of Hockey Hall of Famer Barney Stanley and a cousin of Allan Stanley) and Tommy Russell (who was playing in Cape Breton) flew out to meet the Canadian team in Sweden.

After a few wins and loses to Swedish teams, the Sudbury Wolves/Canada opened the 1949 World Championship in Stockholm on February 12 with their famous 47–0 win over Denmark. (Denmark had joined the IIHF in 1946, and this was their first international appearance, though they game wouldn’t really begin to grow there until the next season. Denmark beat Canada for the first time in international hockey with a 3–2 win at the World Championship on May 23, 2022.) Jim Russell (the team’s oldest player at 30 and a member of the Sudbury Wolves who had won the 1938 World Championship) led the assault with eight goals. Tommy Russell had six, while Don Stanley, Joe DiBastiani and Don Munro each had five. Ray Bauer, Guy Hashey, Joe Tergesen, Emile Gagne, Barney Hilson and Bill Dimock all scored three.

Canadian Press reports note “The spectators often laughed heartily at the desperate Danish efforts,” and“The chief thrill of the crowd was betting on whether Canada would top 50 goals or not.” A United Press report in American papers (which claimed there were only 100 fans at the game) said the only disappointed Canadian player was goalie Al Picard. “He felt he ought to get in on the scoring fiesta, and at the height of the game he wandered out of his cage in hopes up picking up a goal, but was waved back to his position by Team Manager Max Silverman.”

So, there was at least some sportsmanship!

Part II (and the reason for the title!) next week.

I’m not sure what inspired me to go looking for this the other day. Old issues of The Brantford Expositor have been available online for quite some time now. But whatever the reason, I came across this famous photo of Wayne Gretzky and his childhood hero Gordie Howe in what must be the first time it ever appeared. It’s on the front page of The Expositor from May 4, 1972.

The occasion was the Kiwanis Great Men of Sports Dinner in Gretzky’s hometown of Brantford, Ontario, which had been held the night before. The principal speaker had been Rudy Pilous, former coach of the Chicago Blackhawks (Black Hawks, in those days) who was currently being wooed by the Chicago Cougars of the WHA and would later become coach and GM of that league’s Winnipeg Jets.

In addition to Pilous and Gordie Howe, other guests that night included Toronto Argonauts quarterback Joe Theismann and Hamilton Tiger-Cats defensive lineman Angelo Mosca. There was also Tom Matte of the Baltimore Colts, former Major League pitcher Sal Maglie, Toronto Metros coach Graham Leggat, harness horseman John Hayes, and coach Morley Kells of the Brantford Warriors lacrosse team.

The Expositor notes that 506 people attended the $25-a-plate dinner, which was the largest attendance in the nine-year history of the event, with all proceeds going to the Kiwanis Club of Brantford’s girls’ camp. “One of the biggest ovations,” the paper says, “was reserved for Wayne Gretzky, Brantford’s 11-year-old hockey star.” Gretzky was coming of a 1971-72 season that had seen him score 378 goals and 139 assists in an 85-game Atom season. (The paper notes that the “four foot, nine inch, 80 pound” Gretzky had scored a mere 372 goals.)

Interestingly, young Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe shared the same page in the Brantford newspaper again barely a month later, on June 8, 1972, the day after Howe, Jean Béliveau, and Bernie Geoffrion were elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Gretzky had hit a home run and a double to help his Brantford tyke baseball team win its fifth straight game the night before.

Wayne Gretzky’s boyhood accomplishments were well noted in his local newspaper while growing up in Brantford. There are many, many, stories about his hockey, lacrosse, and baseball exploits in the late 1960s and through the 1970s. (And, to be honest, many more times when his name and Howe’s appeared in the paper on the same day.) Gretzky’s first mention in The Expositor would seem to be this one from December 28, 1967:

This was the first winter that Gretzky played hockey after being turned away as a five-year-old the year before. Now a six-year-old playing on a team of 10-year-olds, Gretzky is known to have scored only once that season, so this must be it! (The picture is from the Gretzky family collection and was used by us at Dan Diamond and Associates in our 1999 publication with Gretzky, 99: My Life in Pictures.)

Interestingly, it would seem that Wayne Gretzky’s father, Walter, also made his first appearance in The Brantford Expositor for his own sporting achievements when he was just six years old. Under a headline reading CHILDREN ENJOYED CLOWNS AND RACES AT PENMANS PICNIC Walter Gretzky’s name appears as the winner of a boys 25-yard race:

Though the race is said to be for “boys under six” Walter’s birth date of October 8, 1938, means that he was already six years old by then!

Hmmm……